Bespoke attractions are not an industry with a trade fair every month. Quite the opposite. That is why September's IAAPA Expo Europe in London was a big event for us. For the first time, we exhibited at an international trade fair with our own stand. We came home with plenty of new contacts and experience.

The only trade fair of its kind in Europe

If you work in our field and look for a trade fair, you don't have much choice. If you want to build not only playgrounds but also larger experiential attractions, the choice gets even smaller. IAAPA Expo Europe is the largest trade fair of this kind in Europe. It is organised by IAAPA, the international association that brings together amusement parks, attractions and their suppliers from all over the world. That is why it attracts not only European companies but also major global players.

This year's edition took place from 22 to 24 September at ExCeL London, and it broke records. The organisers registered 18,719 participants, of whom 16,530 attended and were verified. Among them were 11,710 qualified buyers from 8,956 companies across 118 countries. The show floor covered more than 22,800 square metres, the largest in the history of Expo Europe, with over 870 exhibitors. Compared to 2022, when the fair was last held in London, the floor space grew by half. The accompanying programme offered more than 70 educational sessions with 190 speakers, and the press office welcomed over 160 journalists.

From visitors to exhibitors

We became members of IAAPA in 2024. That same year, we visited the Expo for the first time, then held in Amsterdam, as visitors. We wanted to get to know the environment, see who attends the fair and find out whether it made sense for us to present ourselves there. It did. A year later in Barcelona, we were already in talks with IAAPA's sales representatives about renting exhibition space for the following edition in London.

London suited us for another reason too. In 2025, we opened a branch in the United Kingdom, and the British market is very important to us. We could not have wished for a better opportunity to introduce ourselves to local operators of family parks and attractions.

A matter of prestige

For us, exhibiting at IAAPA Expo Europe is a matter of prestige. We don't see many Czech companies there, and none that do what we do. To be honest, it would be hard to find a company with a similar offer anywhere in Europe. We design and build attractions that are truly bespoke, from original playgrounds and 3D mazes to entire family parks. No mass production; every structure is one of a kind. And that is exactly what we wanted to show in London.

A model made of ropes and nets: a challenge in itself

This was our first time exhibiting with our own stand, so we learned a lot along the way. Preparations ran throughout the summer. They were demanding and intense, but they paid off.

The main attraction of our stand was to be a model of one of our structures. At a trade fair where everything flashes, plays sounds and the digital world dominates, we wanted to offer something tangible and physical.

Building a nice model of a house is no joke. Building a model of a structure made of ropes and nets is a real challenge. Thanks to 3D printing and the dedication and skill of our colleagues, we pulled it off. The result was a one-by-one-metre model of our attraction Funpark Most. It includes the 3D maze, the lookout tower, the play elements beneath the maze, benches, paths and even trees. On top of that, the model features two net playgrounds that we designed as an extension of the Funpark and that have not been built (yet).

A journey that had us holding our breath

The model was finished, but it still had to get to London. For such a fragile exhibit, that was another challenge. Besides a Plexiglas cover, our workshop colleagues built a special transport box, padded so well that the model sat in it as snug as a bug in a rug.

Even so, right up until the day before the fair opened, we didn't know whether it had survived the journey. Just in case, we brought spare parts, glue, and even model grass and a few extra trees. Fortune favours the prepared. When we opened the box and found that nothing needed fixing, we felt more relieved than we can describe.

You have to experience it

Impressions from the fair are hard to put into words; it's something you simply have to experience. Our designs and our model attracted a great deal of interest. On the second day, which clearly saw the highest attendance, the five of us could barely keep up with everyone who stopped by.

What pleased us most were the clients who came looking for us specifically. They had an idea for an attraction that went far beyond the usual, and other suppliers had turned them down. For us, those are exactly the projects we enjoy most. Since opening our UK branch, we have been following the British market and actively looking for operators of family parks and attractions, for example on LinkedIn. And suddenly, the names from our screens came to life right at our stand, and we could talk to the people behind them in person. It was a strange but very pleasant feeling.

The fair is not the end

We brought home from London a wealth of experience, opportunities and business contacts with clients, potential partners and suppliers. But we know the work doesn't end there; if anything, it is only just beginning. Now comes the painstaking part: following up on conversations, sending the materials we promised and arranging meetings. So that contacts turn into real contracts.

Project: Prezentace na veletrhu v Londýně 2026 (Presentation at the London Trade Fair 2026), project number CZ.01.02.01/04/24_044/0006256. The project was co-financed by the European Union.